


Stello Nox Fleuret

by Akumeoi



Series: All Covered In Gold [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Getting Together, Jealousy, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Tenebrae (Final Fantasy XV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-17 03:17:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14824235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akumeoi/pseuds/Akumeoi
Summary: After the war, Prompto goes with Noctis in capacity as Crownsguard to pay the three Nox Fleuret siblings a diplomatic visit. Noctis seems to be quite taken with the youngest Nox Fleuret sibling, and Prompto burns with jealousy. But not everything is as it seems...





	Stello Nox Fleuret

Crouched behind a bush in the Tenebrean royal flower gardens, Prompto was seething. Noctis was over there talking to that - that - _Prince Stello Nox Fleuret_. Prompto didn’t think he had hated anyone as much as he hated this “prince” since the days of the Sylleblossom wars, when he, Noctis, and their friends had faced off against the now-dead Ardyn Izunia. Prompto’s hatred of Ardyn was greater than his hatred of Stello - but not by very much.

Fortunately or unfortunately for Prompto, his years of sneakily following Noctis around in middle school had paid off, and he had been able to get close enough to Noctis and Stello’s ornamental bench to actually hear bits of their conversation. Stello laughed at something Noctis had said, and the shy smile Noctis gave in return made Prompto want to rip some leaves off this bush and start pelting Stello with them. 

_You fake bastard_ , he thought. _Fake in every single way. If only Noct knew._

“You know, Noctis,” Stello was saying. “I’m so glad you came to Tenebrae.”

“Dad made me come,” Noctis said sheepishly. “When your family was reunited, it was just a matter of diplomacy. But it’s been great to see you, Luna, and Ravus again.”

When the Nox Fleuret estate had fallen to the Niflheim army at the beginning of the war, each of the three royal heirs had been sent away to hide by arrangement of their mother, Queen Sylva. Ravus to Galahad, Luna to Altissia, and Stello, the youngest, to Lucis. They had had no contact with each other, or their parents, in over thirteen years. The war had been over for a year now, but the reunion of the Nox Fleuret siblings had not been announced until just a few weeks ago, prior to the arrival of Noctis and his entourage in Tenebrae. 

Prompto suspected this had something to do with the fact that Stello Nox Fleuret’s hiding place had been remarkably hard to uncover. Hiding him in the Lucian capital city of Insomnia, placing him with a regular Lucian family as if he had been a simple war orphan, the whole scheme had been clever - except for the part where it had been so clever that no one could find him after the war was over, to tell him to come back to Tenebrae and reunite with his family.

Prompto wished that vile _Prince Stello_ had just stayed in Lucis forever, that this whole visit could have been avoided, and that he could have remained secure in the knowledge that he was the only one Noctis had ever flirted with. 

“So… is there any chance I can get you to stay longer in Tenebrae?” Stello said, his voice light. Prompto rolled his eyes. 

“Well…” Noctis said, as if he were actually considering it. Prompto’s eyes narrowed, and he sat up to try and see Noctis’s face better. “I’d have to talk to my dad.”

Prompto nearly fell out of the bush. What was Noctis _saying_? He couldn’t just stay here in Tenebrae - Prompto didn't want to know what spending more time in Stello's company would do to Noctis. Turn him as fake as Stello himself, no doubt. Besides, they had lives back in Lucis - and what if they didn’t allow Prompto to stay here with him for that length of time?

It was as this thought occurred to him that that he realised both Noctis and Stello were looking in his direction, having heard the rustling of the bush. Noctis’s eyes narrowed. _Shit._

If he didn’t come out now, there would be hell to pay later. Better own it before Noct got really, really pissed that Prompto was spying on him.

“Hey!” Prompto said, brushing leaves off of his jacket as he popped out of the bush. “Fancy seeing you guys here.” 

Noctis gave him a look behind Stello’s back which said that Prompto had about five seconds to explain himself. 

“I uh,” Prompto said, gesturing to the camera around his neck, his constant companion, saviour, and excuse. “I was just here to take some photos of the garden, but I fell asleep in this bush, if you can believe it. Just woke up! What are you guys up to?”

“We were just talking,” Stello said, giving Prompto a polite smile that left no doubt in Prompto’s mind the man thought he was an idiot. 

“Oh, really? That’s great,” said Prompto, coming to a snap decision. “In fact, I think I want to have a conversation with Noctis too. Mind giving us some privacy?”

Stello looked as taken aback as if one of the forsythia blossoms on Prompto’s bush had just grown whiskers and hissed at him. 

“Well… certainly,” he said, probably trying to be gracious or something. As Prompto headed for the bench, he hastily got up and vacated his seat so Prompto could sit down next to Noctis instead. Then, Stello gave them a confused smile and left, Prompto watching his every move as he exited the garden.

“What the hell was that-” Noctis started, but Prompto steamrollered right over him. 

“Noct, we have to talk,” he said, directly meeting Noctis’s gaze. Noctis pressed his lips together like he had something to say, but Prompto didn’t want to hear it. 

“Haven’t you noticed anything _weird_ about that guy?” Prompto said. 

“Weird?” Noctis said disbelievingly. “I know you don’t like Stello, but what is your problem? Are you jealous or something?”

“No,” Prompto said immediately. In fact, he was so jealous that he burned with it. But no, that wasn’t the problem. Prompto opened his mouth to say it, but faltered. He didn’t know how to explain, except to be honest - too honest, perhaps. He couldn’t bear the thought that Noctis might doubt him, might think that he was lying.

“No?” Noctis said. “Then explain it to me.”

Prompto took a deep breath. He looked away, his fists clenched. 

“That - that guy. I don’t know who he is, but he’s not Stello Nox Fleuret.”

For a moment, Noctis sat stunned. “Prompto,” he said, turning towards him and lowering his voice. “That’s a serious accusation. Why would you say that?”

“Well…” Prompto said. His voice sounded very distant and far away to his ears. His hands clenched more tightly in his lap. “I - I -”

He thought of that look on Noctis’s face, that smile he had given to Stello, that smile that was supposed to only be for him.

“I know it because it’s me,” Prompto blurted out. He looked up at Noctis, who just looked confused. “I mean I’m - I’m the real Stello Nox Fleuret. I know you won’t believe me, but I swear I can prove it.”

“You can prove it,” Noctis echoed, his eyes flicking across Prompto’s face. Like he was looking for something there that he hadn’t seen before. “Then do it, because I can’t just believe you.”

The look in his eyes was… guarded. Still, it wasn’t a total rejection. 

“Can you close your eyes?” Prompto said. 

“Uh… yeah?” Noctis said, raising his eyebrows even as he did as Prompto asked. 

Taking Noctis’s hand in both of his own, Prompto shut his own eyes as well. When he was just seven years old, Luna had taken his hand in both of hers, as he was doing now with Noct. Long years had elapsed since then, but Prompto had never forgotten what Luna had said 

There was magic in his blood, and it lived somewhere in his chest, somewhere safe and guarded in the cage of his ribs. Noctis’s palm was warm and calloused, resting trustingly against his own. If he focused on his breathing, he could start counting the beats of his own heart. One beat, two, three, and the catch in his chest began to release. In the calm stillness of his mind, he imagined a line running down his arm and connecting his heart to Noctis’s palm, and his fingers began to tingle. 

When he opened his eyes, the hands wrapped around Noctis’s were glowing, shimmering gold. 

“You can open your eyes now,” Prompto said, and Noctis did. His jaw dropped, and his eyes flicked from Prompto’s face, then to his hand and back as if he couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing.

“You believe me now?” Prompto said.

“Yes,” Noctis said, and Prompto laughed breathlessly as he withdrew his hands, their glow fading. “But why didn’t you tell me? The war ended a year ago.”

“Yeah, I was supposed to wait for a signal it was safe, but I never got it,” Prompto explained. “I kept thinking it was gonna come any day. But the next thing I knew, we had to go to Tenebrae ‘cause some guy was pretending to be me. I was so pissed, Noct. You have no idea.”

“Yeah… we gotta do something about him,” Noctis said, frowning. “Guess we should tell Luna?”

Prompto thought of all the enjoyable ideas he’d had for trapping the fake Stello Nox Fleuret in his lies and making him make a fool of himself. But he hadn’t spoken to Luna or Ravus once since arriving, nor even his mother. Astrals… he wanted to see them so badly.

“Yeah, we should,” he said, unaware of the longing that filled his expression. “But first, I have a question. Were you really gonna stay in Tenebrae longer just ‘cause fake Stello asked you?”

Noctis grimaced. “I’m pretty sure that my dad is hoping for a Lucis/Tenebrae political marriage, and Stello’s the best candidate since Luna has her oracle duties and Ravus is the crown prince. So it’s not like I wanted to, or anything, it’s just…”

It took Prompto a moment to digest that information. “Hey…” he said, smirking even as his heart pounded hard. “You think it’s too early for your dad and my mom to start on a marriage contract for us?”

“You… want to marry me?” Noctis said, staring. 

“Well… _maybe_ we should try dating first,” Prompto said, raising his eyebrows and hoping he didn’t look too flustered, though he was pretty sure he was blushing.

That shy smile appeared on Noctis’s face, like dawn rising in the morning sky. “Yeah?” he said. As Prompto hesitated shyly, Noctis reached out a hand and withdrew a forsythia blossom that had gotten snagged in Prompto’s unruly hair.

“Your blossom, my prince,” Noctis said, quirking an eyebrow. Reaching out again, he settled the flower behind Prompto’s ear. Prompto’s heart stuttered as he did a double take. Somewhere caged inside his ribs, something golden glowed.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Promptis week 2018 day 2: "Prince Prompto". 
> 
> The name "Stello" is, of course, a masculine version of "Stella", which is Luna's original name from Final Fantasy XIII Versus, the game which was intended to be made before FFXV.
> 
> No power at my house, posting in class. Woo!
> 
> Comments always welcome!


End file.
